President of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), underlined Saudi Arabia’s unlimited support for the bank’s structural transformation that made it an integrated group, which comes in line with the Kingdom’s endeavor to promote joint Islamic action and achieve development. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Hajjar said that the Saudi government has provided all the necessary facilities to the bank in the form of initiatives, mainly the successive increases in the bank’s capital and support for the bank’s structural formation, with the aim to achieve economic and social development within member-states and Muslim societies in non-member states.
The Kingdom has provided everything needed for the Islamic Development Bank Group to be one of the most important tributaries that support the nation’s growth and development, he stated, adding that Saudi Arabia was one of the largest contributors to the bank’s capital and to the institutions affiliated with the IsDB.
“Saudi Arabia is establishing its own development projects and has created a major boom in various fields. In this context, partnerships were built between the public and private sectors and private sector projects were launched, so we succeeded in building a model partnership,” Hajjar told Asharq Al-Awsat.
He noted that the IsDB financed many programs and projects of the Saudi private sector, while benefitting from the potentials and experiences of the sector to support investment, trade and economic exchange with member countries.
He added that the total funds authorized by the Bank Group to the Kingdom amounted to about USD 5.4 billion, including USD 1.3 billion from the Islamic Development Bank, USD 469 million for private sector projects approved by the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, and USD 716 million from the commercial operations of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, in addition to USD 2.9 billion from various funds and approvals of insurance programs (investments, exports, imports and banks) worth USD 19.3 billion.
Regarding project support, Hajjar said that the cumulative value of approvals that the Islamic Bank has issued since its establishment in favor of Saudi Arabia was estimated at 437 projects.
The president of the IsDB noted that the industry and mining sector received 61.9% of the bank’s cumulative financing, which was translated in large projects financed through partnerships between the public and private sectors, while the energy sector was the second beneficiary and received 10.8% of the total financing, followed by the agriculture sector (9.1%).
On a different note, Hajjar said that the Islamic Bank launched a USD 2.3 billion aid package to member-states and Muslim communities in non-member states, to help them fight the Covid-19 pandemic and overcome its repercussions in the short, medium and long terms.— AAWSAT
